Aitor Karanka believes a tragedy like the passing of Ali Brownlee brings out the good side of football.

The Middlesbrough FC boss , speaking on the day of the much-loved BBC Tees commentator’s funeral, says the football community is good at pulling together at a sad time, despite the often negative publicity the sport receives.

“Sometimes it is not fair because sometimes the people speak about football and how many million (players cost), or how many cars the players have but football is a thing that can pull together a lot of people,” said Karanka.

“For example, when something happens in the world, always there is a friendly game to help victims, so I think football is good at helping people pull together.”

And today, he reiterated his desire to guide the club into the top flight as a fitting tribute.

“The main way to remember Ali is by winning, and my job here is to make him happy by getting this club into the Premier League as soon as possible,” he said.

“He was the one who was always joking and laughing and smiling with me about how good Middlesbrough Football Club was in the Premier League and for that reason I have the hope to play in the Premier League.

“I am going to do my best, we are going to do our best because Ali deserves to watch our games in the Premier League.

“I said after the Leeds game when I heard the news that anything we did for him would not be enough because he deserved all the best because he loved the club and the best tribute to him was to win the games.

“The game on Tuesday against Cardiff was difficult because we had a minute’s applause and we conceded an early goal but the players, with his help, were really good on the pitch and we won the game.”